


Something To Remember You By

by dovingbird



Series: One Simple Change [6]
Category: American Idol RPF
Genre: Angst, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-25
Updated: 2014-01-25
Packaged: 2018-01-09 22:22:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1151497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dovingbird/pseuds/dovingbird
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She stumbled toward the mansion, the sun streaking across her face, and raked her hair out of her eyes. She was running from something. She knew she was. But right now she didn't have much of a choice. Part of my "One Simple Change" series, where each story was written week-to-week as the S11 episodes premiered. AU in that Hannah and Phil broke up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Something To Remember You By

She stumbled toward the mansion, the sun streaking across her face, and raked her hair out of her eyes. She was running from something. She knew she was. But right now she didn't have much of a choice.  
  
"Elise! Elise, c'mon!"  
  
"I have to finish packing, Phil," she tossed over her shoulder, keeping her resolute eyes on the front door at all times. "The car's gonna be ready to take me to the airport in like five minutes."  
  
"Then let him wait!" He snagged her arm and pulled her to a stop, whipping her around to face him. "Will you just look at me?!"  
  
She was already shaking her head, eyes stubbornly closed. "I can't."  
  
"Elise-"  
  
"Let me go. We don't have time for this."  
  
When he still didn't let go, she wrenched her arm out of her grip and spun around, continuing on. She was vaguely aware of the audience already behind them, the rest of the contestants standing and staring, and she thanked her lucky stars for the eightieth time that the cameramen weren't swirling around her and Phil yet. She could pretend their relationship was still a secret.  
  
She could pretend it never happened.  
  
She'd been in her bedroom for two seconds before the door slammed open against the wall and she spun around to come face-to-face with Phil. Before, he was just confused. Now he was mad. His nostrils flared like a bull's and his eyes sparked like blue flames. He looked like he could eat her alive.  
  
"Now, you listen to me," he growled, narrowing his eyes to annoyed slits. "You're going to stop packing. And we're gonna talk about this like adults."  
  
She harnessed her anger too, letting it rear back like a lost mustang that was ready to charge toward its pack. "What kind of adult goes around slamming doors?"  
  
He stared at her. He ground his teeth together. And then he very gently took the doorknob and shut the door quietly behind him. When he leaned against it, his long body blocking her from any escape, her heart kicked into a fury. "There," he murmured. "Better?"  
  
She nodded.  
  
"Good."  
  
He didn't say another word. He just set to rolling his button-down shirtsleeves up his arms. As he completed the odious task, his eyes danced up and down her figure, memorizing her like a map. She wasn't sure what else to do, and so she walked to her closet and tugged the first of her t-shirt off her hangers.  
  
"I thought I told you to stop packing," he said quietly.  
  
She shook her head. "That's not gonna make the car stay away."  
  
"A twenty dollar bill might."  
  
She glanced over her shoulder. "Phil, you didn't."  
  
He answered with a slow shake of his head, quirking his brow. "Ain't nobody taking my girl away until I get things settled with her."  
  
His girl. Her heart leapt. His girl! He'd never called her something like that before. She turned to face the closet in a rush of breath, eyes wide and heart pounding. Jesus Christ, had this crazy ride between them really been going on for only a month or so? It felt so much longer.  
  
"Why're you doing this, Elise?"  
  
She closed her eyes and bit her bottom lip, tasting the remnants of her strawberry lip gloss. "...I didn't mean for any of this to happen."  
  
"What're you talking about? Yeah, you did."  
  
"No, I-"  
  
"You kissed me first. You let me into your room. You took off my belt and took me straight to that bed there."  
  
That did sound a little incriminating, didn't it? She closed her eyes and reveled in the memories. First touching him. First seeing him, REALLY seeing him. First feeling the intimacy of full skin-to-skin contact. First having him inside of her.  
  
"All that tells me you wanted this just as bad as I did. You just don't wanna admit it now. And that's the part I can't figure out."  
  
Elise sighed and tossed the first t-shirt into her suitcase before attacking the rest with a folding vengeance. "I'm leaving, Phil."  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"I'm leaving tonight."  
  
"You say that like it matters."  
  
She whirled around and stared at him, and he flinched.  
  
"I didn't mean it like that. Shit. Okay, lemme try that again..." He rubbed the back of his neck with a sigh. "...you say that...like it's gonna end this."  
  
"It is, though."  
  
"No it-"  
  
"It is!" she pressed. "Phil, we got together 'cuz we couldn't stand being apart anymore. We got together because our bodies.../fit./ But we're not gonna have that anymore. We're gonna have distance there that we can't get over."  
  
"What d'you mean? I'm still gonna see you. You can still come up here."  
  
She shook her head. "I've gotta get back on the music circuit back home, sweetheart. I can't stay away for long now that this is over."  
  
She heard his feet brush against the carpet as he approached her, but she kept her back to him. She folded and refolded. She didn't have any other way to stay strong. "You...don't have to leave. I could take care of you."  
  
"Take care of me? Phil, you've still got the show. You could win this thing."  
  
"And if I do, I've got a $50,000 recording contract in my hands. We could do stuff with that. Get an apartment around here."  
  
"Play house? Me watch you get all the success and all the fame while I get nothing?"  
  
Phil sighed as he leaned his hands against her mattress. "Elise, I'm trying here."  
  
"I know." She closed her eyes. "But maybe you need to stop."  
  
"I'm not letting you go."  
  
And because there wasn't anything else to say when she were confronted with the truth so succinctly like that, she nodded. "I know."  
  
He touched her hair gently, brushing it away from her face. "I'm gonna call you every night. I'm gonna text you like a fool. And if I ever sing a love song, you don't even gotta guess who it's gonna be dedicated to."  
  
"Hmph." She smiled and leaned into his touch. "Heejun?"  
  
"Oh, you're hilarious."  
  
She laughed. But even as she laughed, she felt her heart silently breaking.  
  
"...it shouldn't be you going home this week," he whispered.  
  
"Phil, don't say that."  
  
"No, it's true. You deserve to stay. Hollie's been due to go for the past few weeks-"  
  
"Phil-"  
  
"Especially last week."  
  
"If she'd gone last week, I'd still go this week," she murmured. "'Cuz Colton would've gone all the way to the finish, right beside you."  
  
They were silent for a long few moments. And then he put his arm around her shoulder and she sank against him with a heavy sigh. He turned his head and pressed a kiss against her ear. "Give me one last thing to remember you by," he whispered, drawing thick hot tendrils down her spine.  
  
She coaxed him to sit on the edge of the bed and hitched up her skirt, locking eyes with him as she lowered herself into his lap, one knee pressed tightly against each hip. He stared up at her like she was a goddess, unattainable even in a dream world, as he splayed his fingers against her rear and pulled her close, until there wasn't a breath of air between them. She dipped her tongue into his mouth, and her body exploded into shaking particles when he released a low, heady groan in reply.  
  
She'd give him something to remember, all right. And she'd wait breathlessly until they could relive it together, over and over again, until they'd drained each other dry.


End file.
